France fights WTO farm deal

France is trying to protect its farming interests

DOHA, Qatar -- France is threatening to scupper a World Trade Organization agreement on phasing out farm export subsidies.

World trade leaders from 140 countries are locked in talks in an effort to resolve the issue, which experts say is vital for developing countries.

Failure to reach a deal by midnight on Tuesday will threaten an overall deal on new talks for opening up global trade.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon urged delegates on Tuesday to sweep away barriers to free agricultural commerce. But France, which has a militant farming lobby, is holding out on a deal. Its trade minister has put the chances of success at 50-50.

France has been the most vocal opponent within the 15-member European Union of the proposal to reduce with a view to phasing out farm export subsidies.

IN-DEPTH World Trade Organization in Doha

French Trade Minister Francois Huwart said no agreement could be reached at the WTO meeting if its final text included calls for an end to farm export subsidies.

The topic was also one of the most difficult topics in Seattle 1999 which failed to agree the road map for a new round of trade talks.

This time South Korea, Japan and Norway have agreed to a proposed text calling for the eventual "phasing out" of farm export subsidies.

That leaves the EU, and especially France, largely isolated from the other agricultural powers.

And McKinnon, head of the 54-nation Commonwealth, said in London: "We must remember that increased trade liberalisation will only work if it works for the benefit of all countries.

"A world of free trade where some countries have more freedom to trade than others is simply unacceptable."

McKinnon said trade barriers on manufactured products had consistently fallen while those on agriculture exports remained "very high."